Carbon nanotubes, which consist of sheets of graphitic carbon wrapped to form tubes with diameters only nanometers in size, are the strongest structures because they can withstand the highest tensile force per gram of any known material.

I do not imagine that a division of the material into anything like the supposed size of molecules is necessary; we know that the graphitic carbon in the pig-iron employed in puddling is not so finely divided, but it is much smaller particles than bean or pea size, and by approximating the size of the graphite particles in pig iron, Wilson has succeeded in obtaining good results.

The deposits of this material in the form of graphitic limestone cover miles of territory, but more satisfactory processes for its concentration are needed to make it available for use, especially in the higher grades.

By urging the temperature, or by increasing the pressure at which the gases are led over the carbide, the free carbon appears in the graphitic condition; at lower temperatures and pressures, it is separated in the amorphous state.

His eldest son, Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Bart. (1817-1880), was appointed professor of chemistry at Oxford in 1865, and is chiefly known for his investigations on the allotropic states of carbon and for his discovery of graphitic acid.